“In Oakland, Redefining Sex Trade Workers as Abuse Victims”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24oakland.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

            This article immediately caught my eye, because it reminded me of conversations I had with Karem, Vivian while we were brainstorming for our group project’s focus. For our group project, we worked on developing a coalition that would link Bay Area organizations devoted to freeing those involved in the sex trade in order to create a more synergistic, effective force to fighting the sex trade. As Karem came from a focus on human trafficking, Vivian on refugee second-generation children to refugee parents in the area, and I on health access for refugees in Alameda County, this article really hit topics from all three of our focuses. The sad reality is that 100,000 to 300,000 American-born children are sold for sex each year. These abusers could be anyone, including pimps or even family members who “recruit or kidnap girls from the streets and market them online through sites, where they are featured in pulsating ads for massage parlors, escort services, strip clubs, even acupuncturists.”

            Writer, Patricia Leight Brown, writes about Dr. Chang’s clinic at Asian Health Services and brings up this new “public health approach to treating American-born minors lured into the sex trade,” where doctors who interact closely with patients act as first responders.

            In the past, people who have been sex trafficked were treated as criminals and dispatched to juvenile centers, therefore, many of these individuals in fear would not seek help for themselves.  In juvenile detention centers, medical screenings would simply test communicable or life-threatening diseases, but did not consider reproductive health as something important enough to screen. Therefore, many youth who could have been rescued and supported were often neglected and punished. This new focus, with doctors acting as first responders, stresses the importance of early intervention and counseling to save children who would possibly be victims to child abuse.

            As I am concurrently interning at International Rescue Committee, which comes alongside refugees and lends assistance in the resettlement process, I have been thinking a lot about the background from which these refugees come from. So often, when I interact with clients, the most I can do is smile and say hello, so I feel like there is a huge barrier separating my understanding of their needs and them. Through research I’ve done as a Global Poverty minor, I have been learning that Asian-American girls, specifically Cambodian-American girls among the most vulnerable to the sex trade. One potential reason for this is because “immigrant Cambodian parents struggle with poverty compounded by the experience of genocide and its traumatic aftermath, depression.” These tumultuous and highly emotional experiences then trickle down and affect their children and generations to come. When they get involved and are in trouble, those who have experienced “historic violence and genocide” are fearful of reaching out for help, because they have a “fear of law enforcement.” Thus, recruiters specifically target these girls because they know they are “struggling with issues of cultural identity.” The example in this article mentions how many girls from Southeast Asian families come from households where parents do not ask “‘How was school today?’ or say ‘I love you.’” Thus, girls who are lured as they attempt to seek “Americanized relationships” that they are not familiar with.

            Time and time again, I am realizing the importance of fully understand one’s cultural, social and circumstantial background. As we’ve been realizing, many organizations have the right intentions to help those who are marginalized or wronged in one way or another, but often times they do more harm than help. Thus, it is essential to notice how society currently works and to find ways within our system to serve as flags for those who are trafficked for sex. As a person striving to become pediatrician, I find it interesting that doctors can also serve in this way. The themes brought up in this paper make me thing more about how a doctor isn’t simply a person to assess one’s physical health and discern proper treatment, but more so a person who is informed of their patient’s complete background and aware of the dangers that may be present in their community. As a majority of people see doctors over therapists or counselors, it is important for physicians to be trained so that they can detect these red flags and get their patient to safety.